terima kasih buat kalian semua..

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Unfair to penalise legitimate ‘foreigners’ living here

I AM an Englishman, married to a Malaysian for more than 10 years, and living in Malaysia.

I own and manage three small manufacturing businesses in Malaysia which are 100% export oriented.

Between these three companies, they bring some RM10mil worth of foreign exchange into the country each year.

More than 90% of our purchases are from Malaysia, so the vast majority of this foreign exchange stays within Malaysia. We employ 25 people in the businesses, all of whom are Malaysians.

Every month, I pay income tax to IRB, both personally and from each of the three businesses.

When the petrol price changes become effective on May 1, what happens to myself and many other “spouses” who are contributing to the progress of this wonderful country that we have chosen to be our home?

Are we going to be penalised? What happens to all of the people invited to live here under the MM2H programme?

I am in full agreement that foreigners simply coming to Malaysia to take advantage of subsidised fuel should not be allowed to have this luxury, but it is grossly unfair that the “foreigners” living here legitimately are penalised.

More disturbing is that in recent days, I have read a number of newspaper reports and interviews on the subject, yet there appears to be little response.

Is it that investors are not welcome here? Should we relocate our businesses to other countries?